outage

[ou-tij]

noun

1. an interruption or failure in the supply of power, especially electricity.

2. the period during which power is lost.

   a two-hour outage on the East Coast.

3. a stoppage in the functioning of a machine or mechanism due to a failure in the supply of power or electricity.

4. the quantity of goods lost or lacking from a shipment.

5. Aeronautics.,  the amount of fuel used during a flight.

outage

/ ˈaʊtɪdʒ /

noun

1. a quantity of goods missing or lost after storage or shipment

2. a period of power failure, machine stoppage, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of outage¹

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05; out + -age

Example Sentences

A power outage has caused major disruption to all rail services at Leeds Station.

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U.S. tech stocks mostly gained in premarket action, while a CME Group outage halted trading in index futures and other key contracts.

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It is perhaps lucky that the outage happened on Black Friday—a trading day, but one without major market catalysts and likely to have only limited volumes in a holiday-shortened week.

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U.S. futures were up while global markets were mixed amid a fallout from trade interruption caused by an outage on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

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The outage resulted in drink shortages in shops across Japan.

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Related Words

• blackout 
• brownout 
• disruption 
• interruption